Regardless of the fact that the title song does not garner an artist with the stature of a Paul McCartney, Carley Simon or Nancy Sinatra, it's effect is one of the most upbeat title songs in James Bond history! It really compliments the movie opening segment to a climax that gets you totally pumped up to watch more. Trying to follow up Paul McCartney's Live and Let Die is a tough act for anyone, but this definitely delivers!
January 12, 2006 |  | ONE OF JOHN BARRYs MOST OVERLOOKED 007 SCORES |  |
Back in 1974 many fans wanted John Barry back after his one film hiatus from the Bond series. Barry returned with a score to THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN, Roger Moore's second outing as 007. Track-1: "Main Title: The Man With the Golden Gun" is very good. Lulu has an incredibly strong voice and the song has a certain rock element that was in contradiction to Binder's titles, yet it is very upbeat and sets the tone of the entire film. On this CD it sounds great and has improved with time. A beautiful girl on an isolated beach towels down Scaramanga as he emerges from the water in a surrealistically exotic locale. This sets up Track-2: "Scaramanga's Fun House" where Scaramanga lures gangster Rodney Hood into the funhouse in a duel to the death. This is a great track brimming with Barry's unique sound where the music first reflects the opulence of Scaramanga's domicile and then as they enter the fun house Barry creates a spiraling `stalking theme' mixed with source music from a Western saloon and Chicago Roaring 20s era gangland back alley. This `stalking theme' is central to the Scaramanga character and his deadly profession as the listener immediately associates the music with the character. Track-8: "Hip's Trip" is an excellent example where Barry is able to write suspense music using a repeating dynamic melody that builds in intensity. This is a technique he developed and has mastered ever since the safe-cracking scene in ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE. This technique is probably the most identifiable stylistic trademark in John Barry's music. Track-3: "Chew Me in Grisly Land" is rich in oriental flavor and includes an effective slow paced rendition of "The James Bond Theme." John Barry does here for Roger Moore what he did for Sean Connery and George Lazenby giving them each their own unique musical rendition of "The James Bond Theme." Track-9: "Kung Fu Fight" features a good oriental motif and ends with a very catchy instrumental version of "The Man with the Golden Gun." One of the best cuts on the CD is Track-6: "Goodnight Goodnight" which is a very slow and haunting nocturnal version of "The Man with the Golden Gun." Track-7: "Let's Go Get `Em" is a tour de force of John Barry's new orchestration of "The James Bond Theme" identifiable with his Roger Moore scores. This track has a lot of punch behind it as it melds the very catchy instrumental version of "The Man with the Golden Gun" with a rousing rendition of "The James Bond Theme." Track-10: "In Search of Scaramanga's Island" is a great background composition to Bond's impressive solo flight through the uprooted rock formations near Phuket, Thailand to Scaramanga's island. Track-11: "Return to Scaramanga's Fun House" mixes Nick Nack's theme, the `stalking theme' and elements of "The James Bond Theme" as Bond is now lured into Scaramanga's game of death. This is an excellent climatic piece of scoring. Track-12: "End Title: The Man With the Golden Gun - Reprise" is in the tradition of the YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE album. The last track begins with a beautifully orchestrated version of the main title, which leads into Lulu's strong vocal rendition. I like this CD. It contained quite a bit of music from the film for once, running close to 45 minutes. When EMI reissued THUNDERBALL, YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE, DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER and LIVE AND LET DIE with extra tracks it was rumored that they had also uncovered the original THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN score as well. Unfortunately, EMI was over their budget for this project and those extra tracks never made it onto the reissue of this soundtrack. Perhaps the length of music already on the album influenced this decision. Of coarse this is just speculation. On the positive side this soundtrack did not spare in its use of "The James Bond Theme" which most fans can't get enough of. My favorite cuts are Track-6: "Goodnight Goodnight" and Track-8: "Hip's Trip." "Goodnight Goodnight" stands its ground alongside Barry's best Bond compositions. "Hip's Trip" even though lightly orchestrated as already mentioned represented a new technique of repeating a dynamic melody that builds in intensity. This is a very interesting and satisfying James Bond album.
January 24, 2005| | | Remains a Good John Barry Bond Score to this day | |
This is an interesting album for several reasons. John Barry's music in general seemed to be going through a state of transition around 1974 and this album is a good example of that. Also, THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN was the first James Bond score that Barry composed for Roger Moore as Bond. Moore at this point was trying to define his own interpretation of the character. Moore actually tried to reverse his performance from LIVE AND LET DIE, this time delivering his version of James Bond as a more stoic 007 within a script full of comedic trappings. Added to this director Guy Hamilton wanted an even lighter score than he had previously pressed John Barry into delivering in DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER. Considering all these factors, what we get is probably the most unique score from the James Bond series. Some people were pleased, some were not and some were indifferent. I happen to enjoy this CD quite a bit. It sounds great, having the same technical qualities the DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER album has, and it really contains quite a bit of the background score which you can never get enough of from any James Bond album. I really enjoy the main title that Barry composed for THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN. Lulu's vocal renditions are strong but the really power of this composition is demonstrated in the many instrumental variations that Barry composes using this theme. "Goodnight Goodnight" and "In Search of Scaramanga's Island" are very beautiful sounding tracks. Also, if you like the James Bond theme, Barry composed whole new variations utilizing the power of the orchestra giving the theme a whole new dimension and sound. You can hear these on "Chew Me in Grisly Land" and "Let's Go Get 'Em." All in all I think this is a great sounding album. It is well presented and balanced and is a good representation of the music heard in the film. It was a shame they could not find more music as they did for THUNDERBALL, YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, OHMSS and DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER. I still like this one just the same.
February 5, 2004 | | John Barry's worst entry in the Bond series... | |
Maybe it's just me, but I think 'The Man With The Golden Gun' was truly a sign that Barry was getting tired of arranging Bond film scores, especially after coming out with the magnificent 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' and 'Diamonds Are Forever' as his latest contributions prior to this 1974 entry. Perhaps the storyline had much to do with it, but the music here is uninspiring, the theme song not one of my favorites and as others have pointed out, lacking in any extra tracks.
If there is one remastered CD to potentially avoid it is this one, but Barry would make another wonderful effort 5 years later with 'Moonraker' January 19, 2004
 | | Haunting score by the magnificent John Barry! | |
The Man With The Golden Gun is not one of the better films in the series. One however, cannot say the same about the music. While it is not considered to be the best work of John Barry, it is still good. The new CD has been remastered, but due to money restrains, no new bonus tracks have been added. The inner booklet has also been spiced up to include a few nice photos. The Man With The Golden Gun was performed by Lulu. It was one of the very few title tracks that didn't chart at all in the US or Britain. True that her voice was a little off and the lyrics are odd, but it is still a fine song. John Barry brought a far east flavor to the music that works very well in the film and on the CD. Scaramanga's Funhouse has the tension slow brass in it as does Return To Scaramanga's Funhouse, which is slightly longer and haunting. These tracks also include the honky-tonk interludes in them. Hip's Trip is a wonderful track that has a dark moody fell to it and works ver well. The Jazz Instrumental The Man With The Golden Gun is a Dixieland honky-tonk blast of crazy music and sounds in a fun rendition of the title song. This track is not featured in the film. My personal favorite and many others on the CD is In Search Of Scaramanga's Island. It is filled with a mysterious fell to it and a far eastern flavor. Very haunting and full of riveting tension. The CD ends with the end-title version of the title song in a much slower tempo. All in all, The Man With The Golden Gun is a good James Bond soundtrack filled with 12 wondeful tracks. A must for all Bond fans!
April 7, 2003More reviews at Amazon.com ...
